Ole Christian Sonne ~ Index
Ole Christian Sonne was the first member of the Sonne family in Denmark to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to his personal history, he was born on the 2nd of February 1822 (birth in parish record lists his birth date as February 1st) in the little fishing hamlet of Klitgaard on the banks of the Limfjorden to Niels Olesen Sonne and Karen Christensen. His father had been a seafaring young man, but when he was married he spent most of his time in the occupations of fishing and farming.
Ole Christian Sonne wrote a short history of his life (in Danish) in the 1890s. He writes the following: "Ole Christian Sonne was the eldest son of six children. Their names were: (1) the eldest, Kjersten Marie Sonne, (2) Ole Christian Sonne, (3) Christen (Chresten) Sonne , (4) Anne Kjerstine Sonne, (5) Niels Sonne, (6) Rasmus Sonne.
Since Ole was the eldest son, he helped his father work on the farm until his younger brother Christen, could begin to help. Their father spent time in building, planting trees, and establishing a beautiful little farm, but the fishery actually occupied most of his father's time.
The fishery completely failed in a few years and the family began to increase, so the eldest of the children had to leave home and seek to find a living where we in an honest way could support ourselves and increase our knowledge with the fruits of our hands' labors. We all were members of the Lutheran Church. Father Niels O. Sonne and mother Karen Christensen Sonne were both sincere believers in as much as their knowledge of God and his will would allow. Then Ole C. Sonne, the only one who accepted the Latter-day Saint's doctrine, believed that it would be an easy task for him to prove to them the importance of obeying the gospel's first principles, but they were unshaken and both died without accepting the gospel.
In 1847 when Ole C. Sonne was twenty-four years old, war broke out between Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark and he was enlisted as an experienced sailor to fight on the sea for his homeland and traveled to the capitol city of Copenhagen. From here he was assigned to the frigate Belona after being trained to fire the cannons, and then left from Copenhagen's Rud in 1848 in the spring to where the Danish navy fleet was stationed and were blocking all the German ports. Our station was from the island of Helgoland to the Elbe River near Hamburg. From here Ole C. Sonne was sent out against Hr. Mader, a transport ship which was hired by the government. One Sunday morning as the frigate's crew was cleaning the deck, a merchant ship went by us and turned into the river to Hamburg. We had no opportunity to stop him because the wind was blowing against us from shore and there was too little water to sail in.
Ole C. Sonne was sent, together with several of the Belona's crew against Hr. Mader, which carried cannons but could only use (3) for defense. But then again we waited until the battery was quiet, then we took all the Hamburg (men) captive and brought their ship with (after having torn down their Hamburg flag and placed the Danish national flag on top) and set our course for Fanø where the Commandant at that time resided. But inasmuch at that time there were negotiations by the War Office regarding an armistice, we were required to stay on Fanø Island until the armistice was decided. Ole C. Sonne was then sent from Fanø to Copenhagen with the schooner Hr. Mader and anchored at "Nye Have" at Copenhagen Ruhd the last of October 1848 after a stormy and hard sail home. All care to save the ship was used and Ole C. Sonne was stationed on deck and the sea washed over him and after he was released from that assignment he noticed immediate consequences. His legs swelled up and he was carried from the ship to the naval hospital. While I was there, all who were enlisted in 1848 were sent home on furlough but were to meet again in the spring of 1849.
When the new orders were issued for them (after Ole C. Sonne was released to be cured for rheumatism) he was assigned to an old ship and helped with outfitting the ships which would be used in the blockade. In the spring of 1849 after the ships Christian the 8th and the frigate Gefion were destroyed, negotiations began again for peace. The last part of August 1849 Ole C. Sonne was honorably released from the service and traveled back to his relatives in the dear home.
Then he went to work on a large farm called Restrup located between the cities of Aalborg and Nibe. He began there as a gardener. The estate was then under the direction of overseer Hvilsom and his son, Jens Hvilsom. He managed both the fruit and the vegetable garden. Here he worked the farm and became acquainted with the girl who became his first wife, Catrine Cecilie Hvilsom. They were married in July 1854 in Copenhagen and resided at Freilev, a little rural village one and one-quarter miles southwest of Aalborg. Here he established a nice little farm and began to live and make a nice home where he and his wife could live. But providence would decide otherwise.
In February of 1856 Rudolph Gløde came and brought the Latter-day Saint gospel to our home and he told us what it meant namely: faith, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. Since he was unknown he invited us to obtain some tracts which he brought with him and together with the Bible prove the Latter-day Saints teachings were true.
Ole C. Sonne purchased a copy of each tract he had and began to study in company with his wife wherewith they both at the same time were convinced and felt both at the same time a desire after to show their thankfulness by obeying the gospel's first principles in spite of the reminder concerning what so often they were reminded about in the Holy Scriptures that there was a power to overcome which would oppose them and darken our faith on the dirty and troubled way through the rest of our lives. (Note: 1855 census of Frejlev shows brothers Ole and Christen with families in the same household.)
In the year 1856 on the 22nd December Ole C. Sonne was ordained an Elder and was sent on a mission to Viborg and the area around Viborg. In Viborg he baptized carriage maker Christensen, but his wife could not accept the gospel. He was baptized also with two others at a little village there. The man's name was Thomas Malle (Moller). When I came home in the spring in April 1857, I was called to be the president of a new branch which in the same conference was organized under the name of Freilev branch where Ole C. Sonne lived. His next neighbor to him, Soren Christian Tyggesen and his wife, were soon to join the church and several believed the gospel. We left Freilev and sold our property and moved to Aalborg. In the autumn of 1857 when Ole C. Sonne on the 6th October was released from Freilev branch to travel to America with the first emigration in the spring of 1858.
Ole C. Sonne left Aalborg in company with his wife for America which according to their belief was the Saint's home. He purchased a little home in the First Ward in Salt Lake City and a one-half city lot. He worked for the president of the Seventies quorum. Here on the 7th November 1858 my first wife died of Mountain Fever after nine days illness. When her health began to fail in the spring of 1858 and she continually became weaker, we decided that we should seek to be sealed in God's House for time and for eternity – the only certainty that we could see. In the autumn or the last of autumn she was suffering more and so weak that she became bedridden. Dr. Andersen from Salt Lake City with all his expertise had to ultimately give her up as deaths' exchange. And Ole C. Sonne was now the only one to bear the sorrow, being thousands of miles from relatives and friends with a foreign language; nevertheless, were his friends better than his relatives could be (were). I had friends I never knew of who had been raised up by God and who never forsook me. And this way is the best to learn to know our Father and Savior and this is the way our faith is strengthened.
Ole C. Sonne rented a piece of land on the Church's farm and sowed wheat there, but since the soil there was so poor, he didn't raise much more than it cost him. He rented a house and two city lots from a Danish member who wished to move south in the spring. Since the two city lots were too little land to spend time with, Ole C. Sonne decided to farm some land of his own and after he had worked a time as a gardener for President Joseph Young, and he could obtain payment in (corn) stock, he thought that he would do best to purchase a piece of land and begin to cultivate the land for himself and raise several cattle. However, the cost of feed for the cattle was so expensive in Salt Lake City that it did not pay to raise cattle.
Cache Valley was beginning to be populated by some Salt Lakers and he purchased twenty acres of land from Brother Andrew Andersen and paid him part in cattle and part in flour and wheat. In the spring, April 15th, 1861, I was in Cache Valley with my family and began to plow my land and sow wheat to have bread and dug water ditches for irrigation of my land and as soon as I could, I purchased more land, but it went slowly for we worked hard during the day and at night we had to be on guard for Indians who would both steal and kill. As it appeared, it was hard to begin a new home in a new country, but with time and effort great things can be accomplished when the Lord's blessings follow our efforts. We had to live in the Mendon fort as the Indians were inclined to be troublesome and even though we often gave them flour, bread and slaughtered cattle, they were nonetheless unsatisfied and wanted to have more. It got so bad that we had to build a barricade (rock wall) around the meeting house with a bastion in each corner, so we could stand inside and protect all who came near the wall. Inside, was room enough for all the forts' residents with their children in case of attack from the Indians.
In a conference held in Salt Lake City in April 1879 I was called, together with Brother Wilhelmson to go and perform a mission to Europe. I was assigned my field of labor in my old Fatherland, Denmark, where I often had born testimony of the gospel's true, and now I could give them good information with over twenty years experience in this place, To where we were with the gospel's voice invited, I thought convincing them would be an easy thing, but on their side required faith which was a gift I could not give and only one of my family followed me to the mountain valleys to find a home and receive the blessings which would prepare the faithful for eternal life. A brother's son (nephew), O.H. Sonne and another brother's son, Niels Christian Sonne are the only of my relatives who know my testimony is worthy to participate in Zion's blessings. Herewith will I now be satisfied and thankful to Him who is willing to sustain them who ask Him sincerely for strength to do his will.
Niels C. Christian Sonne lives at Mill north from Mendon and Ole H. Sonne lives at the present time at Mendon, Cache, County.(Handwritten by Ole Christian Sonne and dated the 29 December 1898 The original handwritten journal is in the Perry-Kowallis family library in Salt Lake City, Utah.)
In 1868 Ole C. Sonne and his wife, who had no children of their own, took in two orphans: Christina (age twelve) and Jens Jensen (age ten). They were the children of Niels Jensen and Karen Torkelsen Jensen. Karen had given birth to a child on board the ship as they traveled to America. The child died and was buried in the Atlantic Ocean and Karen died a short time later and was buried in New York. Their father, a resident of Mendon, died of Tuberculosis on September 15th, 1868.
Jens Jensen records this concerning his early life with the Sonne family:
We lived with them as though we had been children and parents, Christina staying until 1873 and I until 1885 when I married and started a home of my own. My father (Niels Jensen) was in poor health during the last three years of his life having contracted tuberculosis, and was unable to perform ordinary farm labor. As a result I was allowed to spend the time very much as I pleased, which in the summer was mainly fishing. I spent many days alone in this manner although I caught few fish. Would often roast fish over a campfire for dinner and stay away from home until night. I attended school very little before I was ten years of age. Do not think the family urged punctual attendance, and too at times I had no clothing fit to wear in public. This, however, was changed when at father's death, I went to live with Brother and Sister Sonne as they insisted that I attend school, Sunday school and most religious meetings. Previous to this I had not attended a single session of Sunday school, and few, if any meetings.
A nephew, Niels Christian Sonne, came from Denmark in 1872 and stayed with him (Ole C. Sonne) until he married and moved to Logan in 1875. In 1879 Ole C. Sonne responded to a call from the church and went on a mission to Denmark, returned in 1880 and brought with him a nephew, Ole H. Sonne age ten years, also the mother of Niels Christian Sonne (Mariane Larsdatter Sonne).
In 1873 he built a rock house, a fine structure for the times, and as a residence an agreeable change from a log house with a dirt roof. He took an active part in the religious work of the Mendon Ward and, at times went as a Home Missionary going as far north as Franklin, Idaho, and south as far as Hyrum, in Cache County. He was a fluent speaker in Danish but never succeeded in mastering the English language. He served as school trustee for the Mendon school district and was a member of the City Council also director of the Mendon Co-op Store for many years. In fact took part in all work carried on in Mendon during the active years of his life.
In person of medium height, light-blue eyes, brown hair, and weight about 170 pounds. During his best physical years was strong more than ordinary, for his size and weight. In disposition was optimistic, light-hearted and jovial, fond of company, a good friend and willing to aid the needy at all times. I was intimately acquainted with him from 1868 until the time of his death—living in his family from the age of ten to twenty-eight years and feel that I cannot speak too highly of him as a man and citizen in church and civic affairs nor as a private citizen. He shaped his course in life, according to his best knowledge and understanding, as well as any man I have ever known, lived a temperate, quiet and contented life dying free from disease and without pain, his body being simply worn out.
Notes…
The nice rock house noted by Jens Jensen was located on the southwest corner of 100 West & Center in Mendon, Utah. Ole C. Sonne's nephew, Niels C. Sonne, as noted above is the father of Alma Sonne of Logan, Utah, who served as a Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from 1941 until his death in 1977. The Mendon people were all very proud of him.
Laraine K. Ferguson is the compiler of all the above text and references the Ole C. Sonne's journal, written in Danish. This journal is said to be in the Perry-Kowallis family library in Salt Lake City, Utah.